This plans calls for 29 carriage style homes on a horseshoe shaped street intersecting Spring Street (two entry/exit points from Spring Street). The majority of 20 acres of trees will be eliminated and there are no plans indicated for an HOA to oversee what we might view from East Hills. This land is adjacent to the large AL Tech Steel landfill and was once considered part of the 50 acre waste management area of AL Tech Steel.
Specific concerns include the following:
* Removal of mature trees behind homes on Shelbourne Dr., Harvester Ct., Guilder Ct. and land owned by the East Hills HOA. This will leave no buffer between many homes bordering this development, reducing backyard privacy and potentially affecting their property value (and yours).
* Lack of covenants. East Hills' guidelines on fences, sheds, pools, noise, trash, parking, etc. make our neighborhood a beautiful place to live. With no similar restrictions indicated who knows what will be placed there.
* Water runoff affecting homes on those streets. Past environmental assessments on this property indicated that 100% of the soil drainage on the site is poor. Does this mean more run-off onto our properties when the site is cleared?
* Potential removal of landscaping of homes adjacent to a new sidewalk on Spring Street.
* Close proximity of land use near the toxic waste portion of the land being subdivided.
If you are concerned about the
potential effect this new subdivision will have on our privacy, views and
property values, please write to the Town Planning Board and/or
attend the meeting:
Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 7 p.m.
Town Public Operations Center
347 Old Niskayuna Rd.
Latham, NY 12110
(518) 783-2741
Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 7 p.m.
Town Public Operations Center
347 Old Niskayuna Rd.
Latham, NY 12110
(518) 783-2741
The developer's application and plan are available to view beforehand at the Planning and Economic Development Office at 347 Old Niskayuna Road. It will also be posted before the meeting on the PEDD website.
Colonie's Planning Board often requires new subdivisions to install sidewalks. East Hills has been trying to get the town to build sidewalks down Spring Street Road from the access road to Schuyler Hills golf course to just before East Ridge Street as a safety factor for the many Siena College runners who use that section and also to accommodate the many walkers who live in East Hills. We should request that the new subdivision be required to pay the cost for this connecting section of sidewalk. It would serve the new residents, too, and improve safety along Spring Street Road.
ReplyDeleteWould East Hills welcome the new subdivision as an extension of East Hills? Then the covenants that protect us would be extended to the new development and be consistent with our regulations, making a more uniform looking area. Association fees would also extend to the new development, as well as whatever common maintenance would be needed. Just a thought. Some further analysis would be needed concerning costs and benefits for both areas.
Many neighbors in East Hills do not know that the house down the hill from this proposed development is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. What precautions will be taken to safeguard this treasure? Also, the State Museum is conducting archeological research nearby (over the waterfall) on the site of a former home of an African-American slave related to the Schuylers of Schuyler Flatts Cultural Park. Great care should be taken to coordinate activities before any development occurs.
The nearby waste site would make a superb location for a community solar project that could serve both the new development and East Hills. New legislation makes community solar projects possible and NYSERDA has incentives for their development. Further investigation of such a possible development would be helpful and would allow East Hills to go solar and reduce our carbon footprint without violating our community appearance standards with rooftop or ground level solar collectors.
The future of the old Al-Tec steel plant obviously affects the new subdivision, as well as East Hills. East Hills should continually monitor the possible further clean up and development activities there. How would those activities affect the new subdivision and the Albany Rural Cemetery? More information on this is needed for the Planning Board to make an informed decision about the proposed subdivision.
Tony Brankman
Bob Peck 5/10/2016
ReplyDeleteThe removal of mature trees bordering East Hills and the proposed development is a concern and one that East Hills residents should be concerned about. The other specific concerns don't seem to be issues we should be involved in.
We can't expect a developer of a small adjacent development to require new homebuyers to be governed by covenants similar to those we have in East Hills. This is for the town and the developer to decide. Certainly there are many surrounding developments in Loudonville that don't operate under any covenants nor should they be required to do so.
I believe we are up hill from this proposed development, water run off won't be an issue for us. This is an issue for the town to resolve with the developer.
A new sidewalk along spring street will benefit all of us. If some existing landscaping needs to be sacrificed it is a minimal loss compared to the benefit of an extended sidewalk.
The proximity of the new development to the toxic waste Al-Tech site is an issue the town will need to resolve with the developer and other governing authorities. It should not be a matter the East Hills homeowners are involved with.